Everything After - A 9.11 Youth Circle

I have no idea, but that's a good question. My best friend Justin is gay, and my friend Jason is bisexual, and so was my friend Robby, but to make a long story short, after a short-lived relationship with Justin, Robby realized it was just an "identity crisis" (*looks strangely at Robby...) and is now "straight", or so he says. But, the thing is, nobody in my school knows about Robby or Jason except for a few VERY close friends. Justin, on the other hand, told everybody he knew about it, being proud of who he was. In October, some football players painted "Go to Hell Fag" on his gym locker in purple paint, so he transfered to a different school; his step-mom kicked him out... and a ton of other stuff. But, ever since the whole thing, people have been nicer about the whole "gay" thing in my school, but not totally. I hope some day they will be COMPLETELY.

Hmm...Well personally i do not by any circumstances believe being gay,bisexual,ect., is right. But I don't feel it's right for people to persecute them for their own choices. It 'IS' a free country both here(Canada) and in the USA, and people should be able to make decisions without others critizising them for their choices in life. But then again when it comes to the "Gay Pride Parade" it just gives people reasons to critizise them, they're just asking to stand out, it's not as if straight people go and put on a parade because their dating someone of the 'opposite' sex. I think that if someone is Gay, they shouldn't have to share it to the world in a parade, because that just creates more critical thinkers. I don't have anything against gay's or lesbian's but i just do not agree with their decision, but they are still really nice people.

Though I don�t like discrimination as a rule, I feel that if security forces look more at Muslims and Arabs in airports than other people, that it is ok.

My reasoning is that the security forces in airports are trying to stop another 9.11; and there are only two types of people that have committed 9.11-style terrorism, Arabs and Muslims. So if they are singled out for a bit more scrutiny I have no problem.

The reason people are still overtly homophobic is because these events didn't change anything and these people are exactly back where they were before the attacks. Even in August, you'd still hear people who condemned racism as "discrimination" being vehemently against homosexuality and bisexuality, and saying that the question of alternative lifestyles was "different". "But this is different!" The events of September 11 didn't teach people a thing.

I know for a fact they haven't in my school. People still act the exact same way they did last year, and more so now that we're in high school with older kids. There's more openly gays and lesbians and bisexuals in the high school than there were in Jr. High so the kids in my class, especially, make a lot more prejudice remarks. I got in trouble last week because some kid in one of my classes called my friend, who happens to be bi, a "fag" and I called him a few choice names (none of which he understood of course... *big words are your friends...*) but unfortunately, the TEACHER heard and understood me. Things haven't changed much in the eyes of especially kids, since Sept. 11th. You'd think people would learn something...

People at my school (the kids at least, I can't tell for sure what feelings the faculty are really feeling, but given their stances on other issues I don't think most of them are very positive) are being really accepting or gay or bisexual students. There's a no-big-deal feeling and most of us have no problem with it. If anyone feels like they need to hide, they seem to be hiding that need to hide pretty well. I just think everybody knows that by the students they'll be accepted. Just about everyone is open to the non-straight student population, and it's only a few boys from the school football teams who have ever given gay students big troubles or been caught beating up on gay students.

However, the campus community was just as open in its feel long before the attacks hit. Those who had a problem with it still have a problem with it; the vast majority are going on just as non-homophobic as before. So the openness is actually not evidence that an event has caused people to become more accepting; if anything, what it actually shows is an absence of change.

I live in VT, and for us (even those who aren't heterosexual) its a joke. Because the cases in court went on for so long, it was ridiculous. People here are especially open with their sexuality, because homosexuals do have that choice to get a civil union. (for those of you that don't know--> Vermont has something called a civil union- its like a marriage, except for homosexuals...this way the couple's will get the same rights as a married couple) In my school, that different. I go to a catholic high school, and in the religion..they are against gay people. although if someone was (and there are some at my school) gay they can attend school, i think the administration would have a fit, and wouldn't allow a gay student to bring someone of the same sex to a formal dance, as his or her date. I think that is unfair that they can judge these people, and won't allow this...what do you guys think?

VT is one of the more accepting places of gays and homosexuals. I just got done fighting with my Mom over our different views on this subject, so I apologize in advance for anything I might say that sounds like I'm angry (because I am). The kids in my school are split into two groups. The jocks/preps/etc. are in one group. Those are the kids who DO have a problem with it. almost all of them DO have a problem and they're usually the ones who say stuff to kids who are gay or bi or lesbians. Then there are the artists, the musicians, the skaters, the punks, the "others" and all of them (the kids I hang out with are almost ALL in this half of the school) and these are the kids who have no problem with it. I mean, occasionally they do, but *MOST* of the gays and lesbians and bisexuals in my school are in this group. I get so mad at the "jocks" because of the stuff they say. They'll get going on one of my friends for being bi, and Jason was going out with a guy a few months ago, they broke up, and he started dating a girl, Andi. And some guys who are total JOCKS started making all these comments about how "you're just confused. you know, maybe if we f*ing kicked the sh*t out of you, you'd know whether you're a fag or not". My art teacher heard, though, and made them back off (thank God she was around, because they've been known to beat the sh*t out of kids who are bisexual or homosexual in my school...). I get so angry with them. they're so close minded. A lot of people (like my Mom) believe that it's against christianity. Well, maybe it is, but one of my friends is gay and he goes to church every Sunday. There's NOTHING "wrong" with gays and lesbians and bisexuals. They have the SAME beliefs and everything as straight people do. They just have sex with different people than one of their straight friends would.

I know, I have the same division at my school too. The jocks and preppies, who dress in their own distinct style of clothing, announce their "traditional" views on homosexuality (although only the jocks give people huge problems about it and do things like haze gay students), and hold the types of views on everything that "society" wants them to have. The big difference between the preppies and the jocks is that the jocks do lots of alcohol and drugs and everyone knows that they've had premarital sex. All the other students, in the other groups, who have their own distinct styles (many groups), are on the other hand and they have no idea as to how someone could have a problem with homosexuality. They take the liberal/rebellious position on all the issues and questions of conduct. One hundred percent of my friends are in this latter group. Gays, lesbians and bisexuals all gravitate towards the more rebellious group (which includes many different styles of clothing, music and image). If there are any in the preppier group, they're doing a really good job of keeping their sexuality hidden. (They do say one in ten of us is gay, so there could very well be a lot of crypto-gays out there at school.)